Johnson Brushed Aside By Murray

Andy Murray set up a Shanghai Masters third round tie with Lucas Pouille thanks to a comfortable 6-3 6-2 win against Steve Johnson.

The 29-year-old British number one endured a shaky start to Wednesday's tie against his American opponent, who is ranked 24 in the world, when he was forced to save a break point in the opening game.

However, after seeing off that threat, Murray responded well and went on to wrap up the match in just 74 minutes to progress and keep alive his bid to usurp Novak Djokovic as the world number one before the end of 2016.

The Scot, who won the China Open on Sunday, was delighted with the way he overcame Johnson in comparison to their quarter-final tussle at the Rio Olympics in August when he required three sets before scraping through on a tie-break.

Murray said: "I played a very good match. Rio was one of those matches where I got off to a very good start, but he broke me at the start of the second set and kind of totally changed the momentum of the match to get through that one.

"Tonight, it was quite different. I thought I played well tonight. I like the conditions here so hopefully I can keep that going tomorrow."

The 13th seed Frenchman, Pouille, is up next for Murray and he is expecting a 'hard match'.

The Wimbledon and Olympic champion added: "He goes for his shots, he's a big hitter, he serves well, he's quick around the court. He takes quite a lot of risk out there."